Real Wedding : a Colorado wedding for a "green" couple

Today's Estes Park, Colorado Real Wedding {in chocolate brown and tiffany blue} was submitted by the brides mom, who also was her wedding planner and baker. She did a wonderful job and Photography by Rick Ney was there to capture Amanda and Chad's special day.

The bride purchased her dress from Repeat Boutique in Fort Collins because of their philosophy of conservation. She was able to "upcycle" a previously worn dress and re-fashioned it to suit her own taste.

The bride walked up to her groom with her mom on the pathway from the inn which was lined with hanging lanterns and pots of lovely flowers.

Isn't the natural backdrop behind the ceremony site amazing?

A DIY wedding wish tree was used instead of the traditional guest book and it truly went along with their natural theme.

The centerpiece vases were ordered from an etsy seller who peels the bark from birch trees in New Hampshire then wraps the bark around glass cylinders. The bark is then inscribed by burning the couples' initials within a heart. The brides mom added the greenery and butterflies. Each centerpiece was surrounded with natural moss and tea lights to reflect light upwards into the centerpieces.

For desserts, the Amanda requested a vanilla vanilla cupcake after visiting Magnolia Bakery in NYC. Her mom recreating the cupcake after many recipe trials {due the altitude differences, the recipe had to be altered and tasted multiple times}. The night before the wedding, 165 cupcakes were made along with 75 chocolate bouchons with a dollup of tiffany blue buttercream frosting. And, the brides grandmother baked apricot cookies along with pecan and poppyseed coffee cakes.

A white gazebo was at the wedding site and at the age of 3, Amanda said she'd be married in a white gazebo. With the bride and groom each having a dog, a collie and a yellow lab - it was only fitting to combine these elements into a cake topper.

White lights were added to the bottom of the cupcake tower to add a gorgeous glow as the sun set and the evening unfolded.

Congratulations to Amanda and Chad and a big thank you to Joann, Amanda's mom, for sharing the lovely wedding of her daughter with my readers today. To see more photos from Rick Ney, please visit his web site.

Just a little side note: Amanda is now in her 3rd year of vet school and her passion is wildlife conservation - {research involving the transmission of communicable diseases between man and animal and vice vs. and the impact of the environment on animal and human health}. Just 2 weeks before the wedding, Amanda returned from a trip in Africa to see the wildlife and study about her concerns over there. You can read about Amanda's African journey here.